[Seminary of the Southwest press release] Academic Dean Scott Bader-Saye has announced the hire of Seminary of the Southwest’s new Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology, the Rev. Danielle Tumminio, PhD. Danielle is currently serving as chaplain and religious studies instructor at Groton School in Massachusetts. She has served as a priest in parish and chaplaincy settings since 2004.

Dr. Tumminio holds three degrees from Yale University–a BA in English, an MDiv, and an STM. She received her PhD from Boston University in the area of Practical Theology in 2014. She enjoys working at the edges of theology, church, and popular culture and has been a contributing writer for the CNN Belief Blog, Huffington Post, and The Guardian.

Danielle has experience teaching at Yale, Tufts, and Boston University. Her Yale College Seminar course, “Christian Theology and Harry Potter,” is described as ‘a semester-long seminar offering in which the topics of systematic theology are presented alongside the reading of the Harry Potter books for the purpose of analyzing the extent to which the series espouses a Christian worldview.”

Danielle is a member of the General Board of Examining Chaplains for The Episcopal Church. She served on a subcommittee to restructure the exam and chaired the Theory and Practice of Ministry group. She is a member of the Commission on Ministry, Diocese of Connecticut, and a member of The American Academy of Religion. She also serves on the Yale Divinity School Alumni Board.

This fall Danielle will teach the Pastoral Theology II course for the MDiv seniors and will offer an elective titled “Trauma, Theology, and Lived Experience.” This course is intended to help future faith leaders think about the challenges that trauma poses to communities and persons of faith.

Dr. Bader-Saye expressed his thanks to the search committee for their excellent work to identify and recruit Dr. Tumminio, whom he called “a stellar candidate.” The seminary’s board of trustees gave hearty and unanimous approval to her nomination by the Faculty and Education committee.